Nottingham’s Richie Jones makes a leaping pass against Hamilton West. Jones scored 20 points, putting on a 3 point clinic for the crowd. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com

Jan. 30: Richie Jones is such a good 3-point shooter, he overshadows something he is equally good at.

Passing the basketball.

Jones hit four 3-pointers tonight, all in the third quarter, en route to 20 points as Nottingham defeated visiting Hamilton West, 90-46. He scored 18 in the second half after taking just two shots in the first. But the senior was still an integral part of the offense, threading the needle with several outstanding passes for assists.

“It’s just from practice,” Jones said. “It comes from playing with the guys in the summer, it comes from all that. I just try to be a complete player. I try to get my teammates involved and still take the same amount of shots.”

He is achieving his goal.

“He’s a complete player,” coach Chris “The Baron” Raba said. “He sees the floor well, handles the ball well, shoots the ball. He’s one of the top three-point shooters in the state. I keep telling him, once you get off the bus you should be shooting in the parking lot.”

That doesn’t seem to happen, however, as Jones has a lot of quiet first halves before exploding in the second. It doesn’t really matter, as the rest of the Winter Jo Storm usually picks up the slack.

Nottingham’s Darell Johnson drops a 3 pointer against Hamilton West. Photo by Michael A. Sabo.

Cliff Joseph (16 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, 4 blocks) and Darell Johnson (24 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks) combined for 26 first-half points as the Stars took a 42-27 lead on Hamilton. Kostro Montina added nine of his 13 in the first 16 minutes.

Hamilton (8-7), which has dropped four straight after winning seven straight, committed 17 first-half turnovers that allowed Nottingham numerous transition points.

“That’s what he wants us to do, play defense,” reserve forward Javon Jenkins said.

Jenkins did just that as he saw extended first-half minutes when Ku’Jane Johnson two quick fouls. The sophomore did his usual stellar job with four points,  six rebounds and solid defense. He was lauded by both Raba and Jones for his contributions, and gave credit to his senior teammates.

“It’s great playing on this team, these guys are great,” Jenkins said. “They teach me to be aggressive when I’m on the court, and to play good defense.”

Cliff Joesph takes flight in Nottingahm’s defeat of Hamilton West. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

Nottingham seemed to be gambling on defense a little more than usual, and it paid off; but Raba isn’t a big fan of that tactic.

“That’s cost us too,” he said. “Maybe they read things a little tonight and got more deflections. We’ve gambled some and it hasn’t turned out good.”

But at 13-1 and with a four-game winning streak, it has been mostly good.

Hamilton’s Dane “Sponge Bob” Riley had another workmanlike game with 16 points and 14 rebounds while Tyler Beebe had 11 points and hit three 3-pointers. In a game that is usually a war, however, this one was decided midway through the second quarter.

It was suggested to Raba his team seems to be on a mission.

“We’ll see,” he said. “That’s yet to be determined. There’s always room for improvement. I still think we can defend better, I still think we can shoot free throws better. There’s still things I thought we can do better. I thought we played selfish in the first half and that’s what I told the guys.”

Steinert, Nottingham girls are victorious

The Steinert and Nottingham girls had easy times of it against struggling opponents tonight.

Steinert defeated one-win Lawrence, 50-29, as Natalie Mehl had 10 points, and Tatiana Dorner had eight points, six rebounds and four steals. Eleven of 12 players scored for the Spartans.

Nottingham topped winless Hamilton, 56-20, to improve to 7-8.

Spartan boys lose yet another close one

Mario Mazur poured in 29 points but it wasn’t enough as Steinert lost a third straight heart-breaker, 59-53, in overtime to Lawrence. The Spartans face Ewing Friday and have a rematch with the Cardinals on noon, Saturday.

Steinert (3-14) held an eight-point lead entering the fourth quarter but were outscored 30-15 in the final 13 minutes

In its past three games, Steinert has lost by one point on a last second three-pointer, and two consecutive overtime games.